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November 2nd, 2009
03:39 pm - Sprouting Success
The first batch of sprouts took five days to grow, and holy cow 2T. of seed makes a lot of sprouts!
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03:38 pm - Raf's Raisin Apple Spice Birthday Cake
Ingredients:
1 1/2c. whole wheat flour
1/2c. packed dk. brown sugar
1/2c. old-fashioned oats
1 T. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
1/3c. vegetable oil
1c. rice milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 Cortland (or other cooking variety) apple, peeled, cored, and chopped
1/2c. raisins
Method:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and stir to combine. Fold in chopped apple and raisins. Pour into a greased cake pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean; about 25-30 minutes. Alternately, pour into muffin cups and bake 20 minutes - makes 12 muffins.
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October 27th, 2009
01:27 pm - Sweet Oatmeal Bread Review
I tried a new bread machine recipe yesterday: Sweet Oatmeal Bread. I have to say, while it has a superior molasses flavor, the extremely soft texture makes it rather hard to slice. The sweetness isn't overdone, luckily, but the oats don't really come through at all. I blame the texture problems on the fact that there's no whole-wheat flour in the loaf; it has a very convincing deep brown color, but it comes entirely from the 3T of molasses. I'd consider making it again, but not with the intention of using it as a sandwich bread.
I was telling von last night that I have a strong preference for whole grain breads in terms of texture. Not only are they easier to slice, but I really enjoy the dense, hearty crumb. I didn't realize this as a child because while I loved my mom's homemade whole wheat, the whole wheat bread we got from the store (I think it was Friehoffer's) had an overbaked, bitter-tasting crust. It's interesting to think about--what foods that you disliked on first exposure might just have been bad examples of their kind?
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October 26th, 2009
04:51 pm - First Sprouts
Starting to soak the seeds for my first batch of sprouts today. I've decided to try the "French Garden" mix first. This should be fun!
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October 21st, 2009
03:14 pm - Applesauce Bran Muffins
The Quaker Unprocessed Wheat Bran box gave me a recipe that with a few modifications, went a little something like this:
Dry Ingredients:
1c whole wheat flour
1/4c white flour
1c wheat bran
1/4c sugar
1Tbsp baking powder
1tsp ground cinnamon
1/2tsp salt
Wet Ingredients:
3/4c homemade sweetened applesauce
1/4c rice milk
1/4c canola oil
1 egg, beaten
1/2c chopped dried organic apples
Method: Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line muffin tin with baking cups. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Combine wet ingredients (except for apples) in a medium bowl. Add wet to dry, mixing just enough to combine. Fold in apples (or raisins if you prefer). Fill muffin cups about 2/3 full. Bake 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs clinging to it. Cool on a wire rack.
I love making muffins.
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01:35 pm - Simple Bread Recipe
I got this recipe from the book A Handmade Life by William Coperthwaite (original source Doris Grant). The bread it produces is bland but has a great texture, and it's very simple to make--the easiest hand-kneaded recipe I've ever seen.
Ingredients:
1lb whole wheat flour
13oz warm water (90-100 degrees F)
1/2oz yeast
1tsp honey
Method:
Mix yeast and honey in 1/2c of the warm water and let sit to froth for about 10 minutes. Pour yeast mixture into flour and add remaining water. Mix by hand until dough feels elastic and leaves the sides of the bowl clean. (Don't be shy about adding extra flour to achieve this texture if necessary.) Put the dough in a metal baking pan, cover it with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm place until it is an inch from the rim of the pan. (I started pre-heating the oven immediately and let the bread rise on top of it--they were ready to go at about the same time.) Bake at 450 degrees for 35-40 minutes. (Our oven runs a little hot, so it only took 32 minutes--you know the bread is done when you rap on the bottom crust with your knuckles and it makes a hollow sound!) Cool on a rack for about an hour before slicing.
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October 19th, 2009
07:01 pm - Rosy Applesauce Recipe
Ingredients:
2 McIntosh apples
4 Cortland apples
1/3c apple cider
1/4c local wildflower honey
1tsp cinnamon
Method:
Core and roughly chop apples, and pour in cider. Simmer over low heat, stirring frequently, until apples are soft but not completely broken down (about 20 min). Add honey and cinnamon, stir thoroughly to mix. Heat through (about 2 min). Strain through a food mill to remove apple skins. Makes about 5 cups.
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October 18th, 2009
11:04 pm - Sweetness of the Season
Almost a week later, and tonight I was still savoring the last of the Concord grapes and some varietal Honeycrisp apple cider I bought last week at Atkins Farms. I'm also looking forward to baking something with the apples I picked up yesterday at River Valley Market, which come from a farm in Vermont that specializes in heirloom apples. It's called Scotts Farm. I'm kicking myself for not noting down the name of the variety, but they're supposed to be one of the very best for cooking, with a superior texture. Every day, but particularly in the autumn, I feel blessed to live in an area with such a robust local food culture.
I'm also awaiting a package in the mail that will herald the start of a new project: growing delicious sprouts for sandwiches and salads! Sprouts are one of those things that pregnant ladies are advised to avoid in case of getting food poisoning, but apparently that's not an issue when you grow them yourself. I'm really looking forward to trying the seed mixes I got in a sampler pack: French Garden (Clover, Arugula, Cress, Radish, Fenugreek, Dill); Italian Blend (Clover, Cress, Garlic); Moo Mix (Alfalfa and Red Clover); Russian Mix (Clover, Onion, Mustard, Dill, Fenugreek); and Spicy Mix (Clover, Alfalfa, Radish and Fenugreek). I just don't know what to try first!!
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/moonsis/relaxed.gif) satisfied
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October 15th, 2009
08:27 pm - Whole Wheat Corn Muffins (first attempt)
My first batch of whole wheat corn muffins was encouraging, but not perfect. When it's perfect, I'll share the recipe. :) In the meantime, here are my notes for next time.
1. Canned blueberries are nowhere near as delicious as fresh, frozen, or even dried. Bargain = fail.
2. The wheaty texture was good, but the muffins stick to the muffin papers horribly. Next time grease the pan with butter and bake them direct for that crunchy bottom.
3. 1/3c of maple syrup is not quite enough sweetener to effectively replace 1c. of sugar even though I do want to reduce the sweetness. I had been concerned that using a liquid sweetener might make the batter too runny, but actually the whole wheat flour takes care of that problem quite nicely.
4. Cutting the salt in half works perfectly well.
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October 14th, 2009
01:19 pm - Real Old-timey Muffins
I have a plan. Sometime in the next few days, I'm going to take a beloved and very successful corn muffin recipe handed down from my maternal great-grandmother, and throw it into the wayback machine. (I'm also adding non-historically-accurate canned blueberries, but what can I say? They were on sale.) Replacing all of the white flour with whole wheat and all of the sweetener with either maple syrup or some combination of honey and molasses, I'm hoping to achieve dense, delicious, satisfying muffins that are nothing like the original. The modified recipe and my tasting notes will be posted within a week!
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/moonsis/happy.gif) cheerful
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August 28th, 2008
10:35 am - August 2008 Gardening Update
It was another year of gardening in pots on the front porch, but considering the record rainfalls, it was actually rather nice to have my "garden" slightly sheltered from actual nature. I planted, from seed: Gold Nugget cherry tomatoes, Bright Lights swiss chard, ornamental hot peppers, lavender, and key lime trees; nurtured along a spider plant baby and ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) kjpepper's Black Dragon coleus; and bought a Golden rosemary plant from Atkins Farms. Everything is thriving except the chard, and I've gotten plenty of tomatoes despite slugs, whiteflies, and a lack of enough sun to ripen them properly for several weeks. Go me! ;)
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October 16th, 2006
04:10 pm - Recent Cooking Adventures
Homemade applesauce that is 1 part plums to 2 parts apples = very yes.
Pizza crust topped with homemade applesauce and shredded cheddar for the win!
Ultra-orange Vegan Cake recipe from Joy of Cooking with chocolate frosting and orange marmalade. It was so pretty that you wish I had a digital camera.
Swiss chard + olive oil + garlic = a taste sensation.
Locally grown organic Cayuga Gold potatoes (developed at Cornell!) are a wonderful idea. And damn tasty, too.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/moonsis/energetic.gif) bouncy
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August 28th, 2006
03:56 pm - Tomato Season
It's my favorite time of year once more. Tomato season. The farmer's market explodes with the colors and forms of tomatoes of every variety imaginable. Long thin green and yellow ones with stripes. Heart-shaped salmon pink ones. Reds of every hue. Yellow, peach, purple, brown, pale green, orange.... there are spots and stripes and deep ribs, sizes from softball to marble, shapes from round to sausage and back again. I went into Whole Foods yesterday with anzovin and was caught short just staring at the bounty of a display of gorgeous local heirlooms from Simple Gifts Farm, up the road from where I live. I ate a couple of slices of a Brandywine-Big Boy cross called Brandyboy on a divine sandwich for lunch today. I like a smooth, meaty tomato that is juicy but not too juicy, slices well even when fully ripe, and bursts with flavor. I've turned into such a tomato snob that it takes a lot of convincing for me to eat one out of season. Man, I love this time of year.
Current Mood: cheerful
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June 12th, 2006
03:01 pm - Soy...
So, it's been a while. Our plant-potted garden is doing variously well, with cherry-tomato flowers and one-to-three inch peppers growing as I speak.
But this post is about eating food, not growing it.
Due to an unfortunate experience over breakfast this morning and a subsequent discussion with my doctor (I just happened to have an appointment happening today, the soymilk wasn't that deadly) I rather suspect that I'm allergic to soy. As well as possibly certain raw fruits and vegetables. So over the next two months I'm going to be keeping a food diary to track (and eliminate) the foods that make my mouth swell up. Because really, who wants that? Not me!
I'm going to combine this with my quest to re-lose a few pounds I picked up over the late winter/early spring and bring my blood pressure back to its lower goodness. So stay tuned for much healthy eating, exercise, and consumption of mass quantities of water and closely related liquids. Mmmmmm.
I have also recently learned to appreciate the finer points of mangos. Isn't it cool that they're in season right now?
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/moonsis/hungry.gif) hungry
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March 22nd, 2006
09:33 am - Back Again and baking
So the past month or so basically blew up in my face, spattering me with debris and keeping me from doing much cooking, baking, or otherwise messing about. However, I did manage to plant my pepper seeds (in three varieties) and they've sprouted nicely and are growing happily under lights in my cats-free room.
Yesterday I tried out a new chocolate-chip cookie recipe, from a book I borrowed from the library. Its secret ingredient was a box of instant vanilla pudding. (And now it's not a secret anymore...) They came out tasty, though the crumbly, light consistency is a little weird. They may be good enough to warrant copying out the recipe for my files. And once we are done eating them, I can try out the orange chocolate-chip cookie recipe. Mmmmm.
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February 13th, 2006
11:05 am - When cooking requires a hammer
I just spent a good twenty minutes of my morning cracking nuts on the living room floor with a hammer. I'm not done with the job, but I've done enough for one morning, and a project that has waited for me since late October can wait a little longer yet.
The nuts in question are the interesting thing. These were foraged one day on my way home from work from a sidewalk along route 9. They're shagbark hickory nuts. The shagbark hickory, Carya ovata, grows to be 60-80 feet tall, and nuts ripen in Sept.-Oct., usually gathered after they fall from the tree, slightly later. They're not grown commercially for food, despite the sweet, high quality nuts they produce. Only those lucky enough to find a mature tree (they begin bearing after ten years or more) and recognize it for the food resource it is will ever taste hickory nuts. (I was lucky enough to be introduced to them as a child; my grandmother's farm sports a hickory tree in the yard.)
Article on shagbark hickories from Slow Food USA
So listen, guys and gals, if you ever find a tree that looks like this, those nuts are edible! And, in fact, quite delicious. ;)
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February 10th, 2006
09:50 am - How does the garden grow?
I started some more sprouts last night. Growing them at home is easier than I had expected, and the freshness is sublime. Speaking of sprouting things, here's a run-down on this year's garden plans.
For containers on sydneycat's balcony:
- Ace sweet peppers
- Lipstick sweet peppers
- Pairie Fire ornamental hot peppers
- Gold Nugget yellow cherry tomato
- Spicy bush basil
- Lady lavender
- Sorbet mix violas
- Whirlybird mahogany nasturtiums
- mild mesclun mix greens
- arugula
- Bright lights swiss chard
For growing indoors:
- Sarian strawberries
- strawberry kit from Wal-Mart (variety unknown)
- coleus, African violets, and Swedish ivy (preexisting houseplants)
Starting for Morgan's garden in Northampton (and sharing seeds):
- Moskvich heirloom tomato
- Matt's wild cherry red cherry tomato
- Tangerine gem marigold
Other things that Morgan is growing that will be direct-seeded:
- borage
- Mrs. Burns's Lemon Basil
- Sugarsnax carrots
- Kinko carrots
- Sugar Ann snap peas
Hot damn. I love growing things.
Current Mood: chipper
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January 25th, 2006
08:58 am - Chili wrap-up and breakfasty goodness
Leftover chili in my lunch is the best thing EVER! There's nothing like food that improves with sitting in the fridge for a couple of days.
Also, oat bran hot cereal with frozen blueberries, brown sugar, and cinnamon is really tasty.
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January 23rd, 2006
01:18 pm - buttery cornbread goodness
Last night I made chili, cornbread, and baked potatoes for dinner. It was all very exciting and tasty, particularly the cornbread, which I made from a recipe I adapted from a book about cooking with herbs.
( cornbread recipe )
The cornbread batter was fairly stiff, but it turned out great. The resulting bread is lightly sweet, moist, and delicious. The sage flavor is not overly pronounced, but it adds a great deal of flair to a simple quick bread. It went really well with the chili, and I was able to bake the potatoes at the same time by leaving them in longer (usually baked potatoes take a 400 degree oven, not 375.) The only reason I tried this with buttermilk is because I had some in the house from when I made the sweet potato muffins last week - but I'm not sorry I did!
Current Music: Dave Brubeck - Take 5
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January 20th, 2006
05:34 pm - Sourdough
Q: Is the top of the kitchen radiator a good place to leave your sourdough starter warming while you go to work?
A: Hell, no.
However, exploding things in your very own kitchen... is priceless.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/moonsis/amused.gif) amused
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